


The Girl Who Walks In At 1:27

by bonn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Diners, bleak as
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:24:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7673491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonn/pseuds/bonn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The overnight shift at the diner has never been more <s>exciting</s> <i> dangerous</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Girl Who Walks In At 1:27

**Author's Note:**

> "Cute but bleak" - a_lrightevans
> 
> okay but Lily Evans definitely loved Joan Jett especially her cover of You Don't Own Me so listen to that maybe

The girl who walks in at 1:27 is announced by the bell over the door, but James would have noticed her anyway. The diner is completely deserted, and that makes it look even seedier, somehow. James usually works the lunch shift, and without the natural light outside, the place looks like the set for a horror movie – grimy tiles and buzzing fluoros, accompanied by a chill that just won’t shift, no matter how many times James adjusts the thermostat. He looks toward the back of the kitchen for his co-worker to go serve the girl (since he is _actually doing his job_ and washing up the dishes from dinner) but Pete has completely fucked off who knows where.

“Just a sec,” he calls through the window that lets him observe the diners from the kitchen. His hands are slippery from suds, but he dries them off quickly on the tea towel that Sirius really should have swapped over during the last shift. “Hey,” he grins, and cringes as his still slimy hand jumps to his hair, “what can I get you?”

The girl eyes him warily, and leans a little to the side to glance into the kitchen. “Where’s Remus?”

“Come again?” James asks, confused.

“Remus always works this shift, where is he?” she asks, propping her elbows on the benchtop.

“Oh, he swapped with me. I think he has a date or something.”

The girl groans and slides down the counter, coming to a stop on the floor in a puddle of red hair and fluffy pink jumper. James bites the inside of his cheek, and decides _fuck it_ , and vaults the counter.

“I’m James,” he says, holding out his hand for half a second before thinking better of it and shoving it into his lap.

“Lily,” she sighs, staring at the floor. “Sorry, I…” She coughs. “Remus lets me hang out here sometimes. I just…” Her phone, dropped on the dirty tiles between them, buzzes furiously. _Blocked_. She swallows hard, and her eyes dart around the room. “Okay, cards on the table, I need you to let me hide out back. Only for like, an hour max.”

James frowns, considers. He has double the amount of work to do with Peter MIA. “Okay,” he says slowly. “You can restock the freezer, then.” He helps her up, and unlocks the counter for her to slip into the back.

“Hey,” Lily says, softly, her voice husky. Her hand is on James’ bicep, and he’s sure this touch is the centre of the whole universe. “If some guys come in asking if you’ve seen me…”

James nods, and she squeezes his arm.

“So what shall I do?”

“It’s pretty easy, it’s just boring,” James says, leading her around the corner to the walk-in freezer. “Sirius dragged all the boxes in here last shift, but the lazy git didn’t even start unpacking them. You’re going to want to stack the new stuff behind the stuff that’s already there. What else? Everything’s in alphabetical order – the stepladder’s over there,” he says, pointing, “or you can leave the top shelf for me to do later if you don’t want to get up there. Your call.”

“Where will you be?”

“Just across the gap here – cleaning the fryer. Oh, and keep an eye out for Pete.”

“Pete?” she asks, and she’s tense again.

“Yeah, he’s meant to be here working but he’s MIA right now. Thought he might’ve gone out back for a smoke but he’s been gone a while.”

Lily nods, but she doesn’t look any calmer. They work away in silence, James chipping away at the oil build-up, Lily shivering as she reaches up, and down, and up, and down.

-

The three men in black who enter at 2:19 are announced by the bell over the door, but the jump in James’ nerves would have informed him anyway.

“I’ll be out in a mo,” James calls, and glances in the direction of the cold room. The trio is waiting impatiently at the counter when he emerges from the kitchen, and the man at the front is clearly the leader, but James addresses the one to the left. “Regulus. Sirius isn’t in, I’m afraid.”

Regulus hisses slightly at the mention of his brother, but the man in the middle cuts him off. “Where’s Lupin?” he snarls.

James takes in the greasy hair and the hooked nose. “You must be Snape – Snivellus, was it?”

Snape brings an angry fist down on the counter, and the glass display cabinet which usually houses sandwiches rattles uneasily. “I asked where Lupin was, and I expect an answer.”

“Well I’m not _really_ in any position to give you that information.”

“Look,” he spits, and waits for Regulus to supply a name.

“Potter.”

“ _Potter_. You stand at a crossroads, and you have a choice. You can do as we ask freely, or we will force you to cooperate. Where is Lily Evans?”

“I thought you were looking for Remus,” James says, his rational mind taking a back seat. His fingers itch; he hasn’t been in a real fight since he left sixth form, but he remembers the rush. He wonders how many hits he could get on Snape before Regulus and the other one take him down. He wonders if he could hit Regulus, even in self-defence. Wonders if Sirius would ever forgive him. “I don’t know any Lily Evans,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Why so tense, Potter?” Snape asks, baring yellowing teeth.

“Maybe it has something to do with the posse of psychopaths in my diner,” James spits.

Snape narrows his eyes, and James finds himself drawn into a staring contest. He can feel his contacts drying out and it’s painful, but he can’t blink, he can’t _lose_ to this maniac. A box topples over somewhere in the back, and dozens of shrink-wrapped hash-browns spill onto the tiled floor from the freezer. James’ heart sinks so fast he feels lightheaded.

Snape smiles, smug; he’s won. “Who’s that?”

“Peter,” James says, hoping desperately that he’s right, that Snape won’t force his way into the back. “He’s on shift with me.”

“I don’t believe you,” Snape whispers, leaning across the counter so far that James can smell his sour breath.

“Believe what you like, Snape, that’s your prerogative. Now I’m going to have to ask you to either order something or else leave the premises immediately.”

Snape’s eyes bulge, and for a second it looks like he’s going to vault the counter to engage James, but Regulus places a hand on his arm, and he pushes off the sticky vinyl, striding toward the door. “Get Avery on the phone,” he snarls, and then the door swings shut behind them. Regulus looks back for a moment, and then they three are swallowed into the night.

“That was close,” Lily says, when James walks into the freezer. “It just – it slipped, and I,” she pauses, and swallows, eyes wild, “I’m so fucking – I’m,” she squeezes her eyes closed,

“I don’t care what it is that you’re supposed to have done to get that lot after you but I swear to God they will not get that close to you ever again. Look at me. I _swear_.”

“I can look after myself,” she tells him, eyes blazing furiously.

“I don’t doubt it for a second. That doesn’t mean you don’t need help. Look, I’ve known Regulus Black almost since he was born. His brother is my best mate and I’ve watched him fall into that fucking – that _gang_ – and I know what they can do. Nothing you can have done deserves them, Evans,” – and she looks up sharply at her name – “ _nothing_.”

“Sirius calls me that,” she whispers.

“Beg pardon?”

“Sirius is the only other person who calls me Evans.”

“You know Sirius?” James asks, surprised.

“Not really,” she shrugs, bending down to pick up the dropped hash-browns. “He’s just always at Remus’.”

“Sounds like Padfoot,” James agrees.

“Hey, I,” Lily starts, and shoves her hands into her skirt pockets, “can you walk me home after your shift? I just, if it was just Severus, but it’s Lestrange as well and he’s fucking _deranged_.”

“You want to go _home_? Doesn’t Snape know where you live?”

“I didn’t even _think_ , oh god.”

“You’ll spend the night at mine.”

“I couldn’t.”

“ _Evans_.”

“What?”

“Please spend the night at mine. I’ll worry all night if you go home. Please.”

Lily nods, her gaze downcast. “Alright.”

-

Dorcas Meadowes walks in at 4:47, and James basically sprints to the break room as soon as she’s across the threshold.

“Oi watch out, it’s fucking freezing out there,” she tells him, eyeing Lily’s jumper dubiously.

James frowns, and jimmies open Pete’s locker. The massive army castoff they found in a charity shop last year for a fiver hangs there, and he hands it to Lily. “Put this on, Pete’s not going to miss it for the next 24 hours.” Lily takes it, and pulls it on hesitantly. James shrugs on his bomber from the same sale, and packs his phone and helmet into his rucksack.

“Hey Dork, I have to walk Evans home, are you alright to man here until Mar gets in?”

“Yeah, fuck off then,” Dorcas sighs, slumping against the counter and rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms.

“Love you,” James calls, and holds the back door open for Lily. “I just have to grab my bike, but I don’t live far from here, so it’s not too much of a walk.”

Lily folds her arms, almost swallowed in Pete’s jacket, and follows him to the bike rack, leaning against the cracked weatherboards and frowning at the pink streaking across the horizon. She’s a vision, hair floating in the soft breeze, cheeks flushed, eyes alight in the dawn.

“Come on,” he says, and she pushes off with her heel to follow him into the carpark.

His hands are freezing on the handlebars, and he sorely wishes for gloves, glancing enviously at Lily’s, shoved into her armpits. He watches her most of the walk home, trying to figure out exactly why he can’t keep his eyes off her, but she doesn’t notice. She’s watching her shoes, her shoulders folded in, and it feels wrong on her, somehow, like the anxiety and nerves are a recent acquisition.

“James, I’m really not sure,” Lily says, as he turns up the path to his flat.

“Trust me,” James says, pulling his key from his coat pocket, “if Snape’s with Regulus, there isn’t anywhere in town that’s safer.” He twists the key in the lock, jiggles it. Makes a mental note to call the locksmith to get that fixed. The fifth such mental note in as many days, promptly forgotten. “Rex and Sirius have an agreement,” he elaborates, as he swings the door in, and stands aside for her to enter, “the gist of which is that under no circumstances will they ever approach one another’s home.”

He lifts the bike onto its perch, and sets about kicking off his trainers. He’s just shrugging off his jacket when he notices Lily hasn’t moved.

“It’s alright to be scared,” he tells her, letting the bomber pool at his feet before taking a tentative step toward her. She looks so small, almost swallowed in Pete’s coat. “Fuck, _I’m_ scared.”

A shudder tears through her body, and she runs her hands through her hair, tearing at it furiously. “Why _me_?” she whispers, and James steps forward again, and somehow she’s sobbing into his shoulder, and his palms are flat against her shoulder blades, her bra straps, her spine.

“Because those fuckwits hate everything with any fucking value or conscience or _goodness_. They hate good things, so if they hate you, you have to be something pretty special, Evans.”

She laughs, a watery thing, and presses a soft kiss to his jaw. “You’re different than I expected.”

“Expected?”

“The way Remus paints you, all you care about is football and having a laugh. According to Sirius, though,” she adds as an afterthought, “all you care about is Sirius.”

“Sounds about right.” He places a kiss on her forehead, and her fingers dig into his shirt, his skin.

“Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> psa i wrote a scene where james takes off his contacts and puts on his glasses and lily LOSES it but it didnt fit with the mood of the rest of it RIP in piecES


End file.
